


Popularity and Chocolate

by whoneedsapublisher



Category: Love Live! School Idol Project
Genre: F/F, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-24
Updated: 2020-01-24
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:33:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22384921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whoneedsapublisher/pseuds/whoneedsapublisher
Summary: Nico is popular, of course. And if Nozomi is going to question that, well, Nico is more than willing to put her money where her mouth is.
Relationships: Toujou Nozomi/Yazawa Nico
Comments: 2
Kudos: 34





	Popularity and Chocolate

Valentine’s Day.

To the naive, it was a day of romance and confessions, a pink coloured space on the calender where you could let candy do the talking for you. Where you ate as much chocolate as you were given without guilt, even if calories were decidedly unforgiving to anyone who got carried away by holiday spirit. But Nico saw its dark side. Oh yes, Nico saw the evil lurking beneath the surface. The cutthroat world of those who got candy and those who didn’t. In a co-ed school, it wouldn’t be her concern. She could rest easy while guys fought over who was the most popular with the girls. But in an all girl’s school, _everyone_ was on the front lines.

Previously, she’d never involved herself in it. After all, she was an _idol_. It simply wouldn’t be fair for her to actually compete. Sure, she hadn’t been very popular the first couple of years, but now people had realized their mistake. So instead of concerning herself with who she was going to get chocolate _from_ , she’d busied herself with who she was giving chocolate _to_.

Obligation chocolate for the girls who had quit her idol club, because Nico Yazawa was not above being petty. Friend chocolate for Honoka, Rin, Umi, Kotori, Eli, and Hanayo. And obligation chocolate for Maki. Frankly, she should be thankful to even get _that_ with what an unbelievably cheeky junior she was.

That just left Nozomi.

Of course, the _safe_ option would be friend chocolate. After all, that was… more or less what they were. The problem was that the “more or less” in that statement was looming especially large recently. There had been too many lingering glances and unnecessary touches recently. Their faces had an uncomfortable habit of getting too close, and Nico had been looking at Nozomi’s lips a little too often ever since they’d “accidentally” brushed against her cheek.

So, struck by a sudden fit of madness, when she’d bought the chocolate for everyone else, she’d impulsively bought some much nicer chocolate for Nozomi. She was planning to make even her friend chocolate homemade, so it wouldn’t completely stick out like a sore thumb, but the difference would become _rapidly_ obvious.

The day before Valentine’s Day, Nico had been worrying about what to do about it, when suddenly things had gotten even more complicated.

“All I’m saying is, just because I don’t always rank the highest in popularity polls doesn’t mean that my charm isn’t top level,” Nico argued. “Nico Ni’s charm factor is much stronger in person, you know? Our PVs don’t show me off enough, is all!”

“Oh? Is that so?” Nozomi looked up from her cards, an evil look in her eye.

“Of course it is!” Nico said, turning from Maki over to Nozomi.

“So you must be pretty popular in the school, right?”

“Well, I’m no Eli,” Nico reluctantly admitted. “But I’m sure plenty of people here appreciate my charm!”

“Then how about a little contest?” Nozomi said innocently.

“You’re on!” Nico said.

“At least let her explain before you agree, idiot…” Maki said, rolling her eyes.

“How about we have a little contest about who gets the most chocolate?” Nozomi said, raising a card dramatically. “Let’s say… one point for obligation, five points for friendship, and fifty points for love?”

“How do I know you haven’t been planning for this?” Nico asked, pointing at her accusatorily.

“Just how devious do you think I am?” Nozomi asked, putting a hand to her chest in mock offense.

“Extremely devious,” Nico said. “But fine. I’ll meet your underhanded tactics head on!”

“Excellent,” Nozomi said, smirking. “We’ll see how things turn out, hm?”

“What about the stakes?” Maki asked.

“Ooh, good point,” Nozomi said. “Good catch, Maki. Glad you’re so interested.”

“I-I’m not interested or anything!” Maki snapped. “It’s just, you’re betting, so..”

“Let’s say… the loser has to treat the winner to a meal.”

“You’re on!” Nico said, again.

“Then let’s just see how popular our mascot is, shall we?”

“I already told you, I’m _not_ our m _-_ ”

* * *

Nico was, she had to admit, not immune to being distracted. With the contest taking the forefront in her mind, she’d completely forgotten about her dilemma about Nozomi’s chocolate. As such, she hadn’t gone on to get any more extra friend chocolate for her.

So on the day of the showdown, she showed up with the homemade, clearly special chocolate for Nozomi tucked away in her bag, with _no_ idea what she was going to do with it.

Of course, Nico was confident about her popularity. She was a shining example of a perfect idol, after all. Buuuut, she had to admit, the fact that Nozomi had suggested this contest all of a sudden made her suspicious that it was rigged. So she miiiight have done a little groundwork online. Nothing _too_ serious~! Just a few reminders here and there, in case someone might have forgotten~!

“Here’s your stupid chocolate,” Maki snapped, slapping a bar of chocolate onto Nico’s desk with a glare. “So you can stop spamming me with messages.”

“Wh- _slander_!” Nico said, taken aback. “I wasn’t _spamming_ you!”

“It sure felt like it,” Maki grumbled. “You realize everyone else in μ’s is in all those groups you sent messages to, right?”

“Oops~!” Nico said, doing a cutesy pose. “Guess I forgot~ sorry Maki~!”

“Gross.”

“Shut up. Here’s your chocolate too, jerk.”

As planned, Nico distributed her chocolate. Also as planned, the look on the ex-club members’ faces when she gave them chocolate was deeply satisfying, although she did feel a little guilty. Unfortunately, as the day dragged on, the amount of chocolate piling up on Nozomi’s desk was getting… troubling. Or more accurately, the fact that it was noticeably larger than Nico’s pile.

At the end of the day, they gathered all the chocolate together and started counting. There was, Nico had to admit, a surprisingly large amount of it. Of course, she knew she was popular, so she’d get a lot of chocolate, but… she hadn’t expected _this_ much.

By the time they’d finished counting, they were alone in the classroom, and it was obvious who the winner was.

“So that’s you with two hundred and fifty four points, and me with two hundred and eighty eight,” Nozomi said, as Nico frowned and crossed her arms.

“I _knew_ you had something set up in advan-”

“So I guess you win, Niccochi,” Nozomi said with a sigh.

“What?” Nico said, blinking in surprise.

“Because you didn’t count this yet,” Nozomi said, setting a small package down in Nico’s hands.

“Eh? What?” Nico said, staring at it. The label, an elegant white square with gold trim, said “To Nico, From Nozomi”,

“It’s love chocolate,” Nozomi said softly. “So you’re at three hundred and four.”

Well.

That… certainly changed things.

At this point, she didn’t think that even the ever generous “more or less” could keep their relationship described as friends.

“Well,” Nozomi said, turning to gather up her chocolates. “I guess that means I owe you a meal, right Niccochi?”

Nico glanced over at her and saw that her hand was shaking as she swept a piece of chocolate into her bag.

Even if she put on a strong face, giving someone love chocolate and getting nothing back… well, that had to sting a little.

Oh, the hell with it. Some things were more important than even the pride of an idol.

“...There’s one you missed too, you know,” Nico said, reaching into her bag.

Nozomi glanced over, and Nico dropped the carefully wrapped chocolates onto the desk next to her.

“...That puts you at three hundred and thirty eight,” she said.

Leaning back she gave an exaggerated shrug. “I guess that means that Nico is going to be paying for the food on our first date, huh?”

Nozomi smiled as she gently picked up the chocolate, cradling it like it was a precious gem. “I guess so.”

Well, fine. So maybe Nico didn’t have the biggest fanbase in the school.

She’d won the heart of the most important fan, anyway.


End file.
